Purgatory, like a staircase, is the space one crosses on the way to somewhere else, for better or for worse. For some artists in The Divine Comedy exhibition, purgatory is connected to the condition of immigrants who may not yet feel at home in their new land. For others, purgatory can be a desert or river, a surface upon which we leave little imprint. It can also be found in the slow-motion moments before a tragedy occurs. Ideas of purgatory can speak to more personal conditions, such as wounds that heal but never quite go away, or to the choices humans make each day: will we let money enrich us or corrupt us? Purgatory is like the color red, the color of bloodshed in the giving and taking of life. It is a state of longing, a place in between.